Relief For Your Lower Back Pain with These 3 Simple Steps

If you have been living with lower back pain, you know how limiting it can be. While it may seem simple to relieve the pain with prescription medications, our current opioid epidemic has left people in search of less harmful solutions. Fortunately, physical therapy can be that very solution.

A study published by BMC Health Services states that physical therapy has been known to prevent habit-forming dependencies on prescription medication and reduce the overall health cost that a patient will have to pay for pain relief. Additionally, physical therapy focuses not only on the pain you are currently facing but also on preventing your pain from returning in the future.

Your physical therapist will work closely with you to provide simple pain-relief strategies that you can carry into your daily life, even after your treatment sessions are complete. 3 of these strategies include:

1. Alternating between hot and cold remedies.

Alternating hot and cold compresses or packs on your lower back can help in providing significant pain relief. If you prefer one remedy over the other, it is not necessary to alternate every time, but often alternating the two extremes can help provide a fuller range of benefits.

Heat works to increase your circulation, and when your body experiences that extra blood flow, your healing properties are initiated in your bloodstream. Hot compresses and packs also ease pain by blocking the painful “signals” that run from the nerves in your lower back to your brain. However, cold packs can also come to the rescue with their ability to numb the pain, halt spasms, and reduce swelling in the affected area.

During physical therapy, you’ll receive expert applications of these ice and heat therapies. Your physical therapist can also recommend the best types of hot or cold remedies for your specific condition. As a general rule, ice packs and heating pads are good all-around options, as both are effective, inexpensive, and readily available.

2. Working those hamstrings.

While it is not something that backs pain sufferers always consider, your hamstring muscles can play a key role in whether or not your lower back joints become over-stressed. When the backs of your upper thighs are too tight, your lower back has to work in overtime, in order to compensate. Stretching your hamstrings helps to lengthen those muscles, which can help to soothe your lower back — especially when it’s in spasm.

A physical therapy session can help you identify specific stretches for your hamstring muscles, and will help in explaining how the two muscles affect one another. In the meantime, try bending over and reaching for your toes twice a day. Don’t strain as you reach down, and try not to lock your knees. If you feel any pain at the outset, discontinue the exercise, and talk to your physical therapist about alternative hamstring lengthening exercises.

3. Balancing your activity with rest.

Bed rest is a common initial prescription for lower back pain in some cases. It is especially true if your pain comes from an injury or re-injury. In fact, resting while applying ice packs is a time-honored way of reducing swelling in the first day or two. However, for chronic lower back pain, moving around is much better medicine than lying around. Physical activity releases your natural endorphins, which have both mood-lifting and pain-killing properties.

Of course, it is important not to overdo your workouts before consulting with your physical therapist. Keep it simple by taking a light walk or getting some household chores done, in order to limber up your back and release those helpful endorphins. If a brace helps in relieving your pain, wear it to support your lower back as you move.

Physical therapy is an important exercise option. It delivers both the benefit of exercise and the watchful eye of a professional to make sure you are using proper technique and remaining sage. Your physical therapist can warn you about moves that risk re-injury and will work with you on both flexibility and strengthening moves. These exercises are meant to build up the muscles that support your spine, in order to ease the pain on your lower back. They also help provide a greater range-of-motion as you work through that back stiffness.

Find relief today:

If you are in need of extra assistance for managing our lower back pain, don’t hesitate to contact our office today. One of our dedicated physical therapists will be happy to meet with you to discuss treatment and simple lifestyle changes that can help decrease the severity and frequency of your lower back pain episodes. Call TheraFit™ today to get started on your path toward lower back pain relief!

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Chronic Back Pain Doesn’t Have to Control You – Reclaim Your Life with Physical Therapy

When you have chronic back pain, it can feel like every aspect of your life gets interrupted. Pain at work can lead to decreased productivity, sick days, and increased stress. Pain at home can prevent you from being able to care for yourself and your loved ones. Chronic back pain can even make it difficult to exercise and stay active, which may lead to even more pain, weight gain, and other issues associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

The good news is, even if you have chronic back pain now, you don't necessarily have to live with it forever. Contact TheraFit™ to schedule a consultation with a physical therapist who can help you start feeling better and feeling more in control of your life.

How a Physical Therapist Can Help Alleviate Your Back Pain

Back pain affects most of us at some point, but for some people, the pain can persist for at least three months or more. While alleviating pain is an important goal, it's also critical to identify and address the contributing factors leading to chronic back pain. Addressing root causes reduces your risk of recurring problems and long-term dysfunction—otherwise, pain can just keep coming back once you stop taking pain medication.

This is one of the reasons why working with a physical therapist is so valuable. Physical therapy services like postural assessments, strength and range of motion testing, and tests of balance, motor control, and coordination can give us a lot of insight into why your back pain is occurring and why the underlying issue developed in the first place. Your physical therapist can then prescribe specific interventions to resolve these root factors while at the same time prescribing symptom-alleviating services.

In other words, we seek to resolve the "why's" of your pain while also resolving the pain itself!

Here are a few specific things you can expect when working with a physical therapist for your back pain:

  • A thorough assessment. We'll look at your body, find out about your medical and family background, compile a list of your symptoms (including pain, stiffness, and weakness or numbness in one or both legs), and learn more about your lifestyle and current challenges to help us clarify your diagnosis. A physical therapist can gain a lot of insight even from looking at your footwear, walking style, posture, and body mechanics, so come in comfortable clothing and be prepared to move.
  • A chance to clarify your goals. Helping you make progress with objective measurements like strength, pain levels, and range of motion is important. But we also will take the time to learn about the things you really want to be able to do and achieve once your back pain gets better. This includes very specific functional activities like playing a round of golf or being able to walk your dog around the block without stopping. What matters to you is what matters to us! We'll always keep your goals in mind as we create a treatment plan so you can really feel and see your progress in therapy. By keeping your goals and personal vision in the front and center of your plan of care, we also help you have more FUN in your physical therapy sessions!
  • A plan of care that combines a customized range of evidence-based interventions. Physical therapy services that are effective for alleviating chronic back pain include soft tissue massage, joint mobilizations, spinal manipulations, therapeutic exercise, therapeutic pain education, and non-invasive modalities like electrical stimulation. We can make practical recommendations on stress mangement, diet, and other lifestyle matters, and refer you to other providers as needed. We can prescribe and fit you for adaptive equipment and support devices like braces or orthotics, teach you safer ways to move or complete daily tasks with efficiency and safety, and help you start feeling better so you can exercise regularly again, which we know is good for spinal health and mental well-being.

Your physical therapist can even help you prepare for or recover from back surgery if this kind of procedure is eventually determined to be appropriate for your needs.

Here are the Benefits of Physical Therapy for Chronic Back Pain

Physical therapy is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the "first lines" of treatment for most types of chronic pain. Altogether, our approach to diagnosing and treating back pain can benefit you by offering:

  • Longer-lasting relief
  • Improved spinal health
  • Reduced risk of recurring issues and worsening tissue damage
  • Decreased reliance on pain medications or invasive procedures
  • Improved cost-effectiveness
  • Lowered healthcare costs
  • Decreased downtime (unlike back surgeries, which can require months of challenging recovery, often with little or no symptom improvement)
  • Improved productivity
  • Improved activity tolerance
  • Increased sense of control of your health
  • Increased understanding of your pain experience

Is Back Pain Bugging You?

Physical therapy is proven to be an effective back pain treatment and is safe for people of all ages and health backgrounds. Contact TheraFit today to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist and get back on the road to the active and pain-free lifestyle you want and deserve.

Find Relief for the Pain You Feel – By Simply Changing Your Diet!

The food you eat can have a tremendous impact on your energy and your waistline. What's harder to remember is that your nutritional choices can impact your joint pain, too!

At our physical therapy clinic, we advocate for a holistic approach to improving acute or chronic pain conditions. To your physical therapist, you're not just a diagnosis or collection of symptoms. You're someone that could benefit from a range of techniques and lifestyle interventions, including dietary changes, as a way to promote long-lasting relief. Call TheraFit™ to schedule an appointment today!

3 Ways Diet Impacts Your Pain

Have you ever wondered how your food choices could be influencing your acute or chronic pain condition? Here are three ways diet plays a role in your pain relief (or lack thereof):

  1. Certain foods promote inflammation in the body. Inflammation is a normal part of your body's immune system response and helps protect your body against things like illness or injury. In acute injuries, inflammation is an essential part of healing. But if inflammation lasts for too long, such as in the case of arthritis, tissue and cellular damage can occur. Inflammation also is a major factor in the experience of pain. It turns out that different types of foods can worsen inflammation and therefore may increase your pain. Pro-inflammatory foods can even harm the friendly bacteria in your gut, known as the microbiome (often called the "forgotten organ"). This can impair nutrient absoprtion and further disrupt your immune system since your gut and immunity are closely linked.
  2. Eating the right type of foods gives your body the raw material it needs for health. Your tissues, including joints, tendons, muscles, and nerves, are constantly being re-built. The body relies on nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and antioxidants to provide the "building material" needed to make these tissues and ensure the re-building process goes smoothly. If you don't provide your body with these key materials, then the ability of your body to repair itself may be limited.
  3. Eating the right amount of food promotes optimal function. Eating too many calories can lead to weight gain, and researchers now know excessive body fat promotes inflammation. Excessive weight also increases the strain and stress on your joints and can raise the risk of health conditions often linked to pain, including fibromyalgia, arthritis, degenerative disc disease, and diabetes. On the other hand, if you don't eat enough food, then your muscles and tissues may lack the energy needed to grow, repair, and regenerate themselves. Under-eating may also lead to fatigue and affect your ability to safely exercise or participate in things like physical therapy.

Hone Your Pain-Free Palate By Choosing (And Avoiding) These Foods

Our physical therapy staff encourages our patients to consult with dietitians or other professionals for more customized and advanced nutritional support. But we're also happy to provide some basic guidelines that can optimize the well-earned results you get from working with a physical therapist.

The first tip: eat real food! Think minimally processed, nutrient-dense, diverse, and delicious:

  • Fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen, or even canned are all great—just watch for additives)
  • Quality protein like eggs, lean meat, fish, and poultry
  • Legumes, nuts, and seeds
  • Fermented foods like tempeh, sauerkraut and kimchi (these are loaded in gut-healthy probiotics)

The key is to select foods that you enjoy eating so that making healthier diet choices is sustainable and simple. Our physical therapy team encourages our patients not to get bogged down by the latest fads and trends. Just start with the basics—plants, protein, and healthy fats—and go from there.

Another tip? Learn how to cook! Cooking at home can save you money and helps you better control what goes into your food. If pain makes it difficult to cook, a physical therapist can educate you about important things like activity pacing or home modifications that will make you more successful in the kitchen.

In addition to food, don't forget the water! You need great hydration every day to help your tissues stay healthy and flush out harmful toxins and waste products from your system. Staying well-hydrated boosts circulation enhances joint lubrication, eases muscle cramps, supports spinal disc health, alleviates headaches, and more.

Some people also find that taking certain supplements, including fish oil or chondroitin and glucosamine, helps alleviate their pain and improves well-being. The research on these supplements is inconclusive, and not all supplements were created equal. So, before taking any new supplements, chat with your primary care doctor first.

Finally, what to avoid? According to the Arthritis Foundation, certain foods and food ingredients may promote inflammation in the body and therefore exacerbate or prolong chronic pain. These foods include:

  • Refined sugar
  • Alcohol
  • MSG (a preservative often found in fast foods)
  • Gluten (a protein found in grains like wheat, barley, and rye)
  • Casein and lactose (a protein and sugar, respectively, found in dairy products)
  • Saturated fats
  • Refined carbohydrates (think crackers, candy, pasta, bread)
  • Trans fat
  • Vegetable oils
  • Non-caloric artificial sweeteners

You may choose to enjoy certain "treats" in moderation, like sweets or adult beverages. Just be mindful of how much and how often you're consuming them. Eating a healthy protein-filled snack and drinking a lot of water before a "treat" can help you control your portions.

Ready to Toast to Your Health and See How Better Nutrition Can Improve Your Pain?

Looking for more ways to holistically boost your health and alleviate your pain? Contact TheraFit today to schedule an appointment with an experienced physical therapist who can help your body and mind thrive using a customized selection of drug-free, non-invasive, and whole-person techniques.

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